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The desire to meet the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) recently dominated discussions in a review workshop mounted in Owerri,Imo state capital by the National Cordinator of the Afrihealth Optonet Association as the organization successfully concluded the United Nations Democracy Fund(UNDEF) Sustainable Citizen Participation Project across the Nigeria Niger Delta States.

Disclosing on the outcome of the SCP programme in the last 24 months,the Project Direction,Dr Uzodinma Adirieje quipped that Afrihealth Optonet Association working the sub-implementation organization delivered 75 percent projects out of the selected 100 projects from the host communities.

According to him, the selected projects were Community driven as it represented an outcome of meetings mounted by the elected Community Consultative Committee(CCC) from the 50 member Stakeholders meeting hosted in the communities.

Among the Projects executed in the states of Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Imo, and Ondo were connecting bridges to separated communities to enhance livelihoods and economy, renovation of classroom blocks toward making greater educational opportunities, development of farm lands/crops towards greater food security and empowerment of the population, health post for greater accessibility of Primary medicare and others.

Dr Adirieje also emphasized that the SCP is targeted majorly at building the capacity of benefitting communities numbering 81 drawn from 81 local government areas in the 9 states of the Nigeria Niger delta. Continuing,he said that the skills built enabled the CCC members to conceive projects either as quick- wins,medium or long term , and moved on with the realization through a coordinated reach-out to all stakeholders including interventionist/donor organizations.

Presently, the communities have realized their ownership of existing projects and were moving on not only with the realization of the medium/long term projects but protecting the existing ones from damages/ vandalisation.

However, the Civil society Organization(CSO) expressed disappointments over the attitudes of federal and state governments in meeting the sustainable Development Goals. The Project Director condemns the collapse of projects arising from poor conception and low quality projects delivery which in effect eats deep into public resources. Also, he questioned the inability of the concerned levels of government from making effort at seeing that the projects embarked were targeted at meeting the SDG goals rather working to appease some Party bigwigs in the society.

Adirieje said” There is nothing on ground that indicates that Nigeria is on the way to achieving SDGs. We have advanced from MDGs uncompleted and not achieved, to SDGs. We are part and parcel of the planning of SDGs.

“Yet, from 2016 to this period, nothing critical, especially in Imo state, has been done to say that this is the road map to achieving the SDGs in Nigeria Niger Delta states”

The Social activist called for enthronement of due process in Project conception and execution to maximize resources deplored wondering why projects executed by the late Premier of the western region, Obafemi Awolowo could still be in good condition while the ones carried by very recent administrations in the Niger delta states were failings months after construction.

He called for greater protection of the peoples’ interest as resources deplored to maintain roads constructed and failing in less than six months would have served in giving some other communities needed amenities.

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